SLOPESTYLE RESULTS

FIRST ANNUAL BURTON CANADIAN OPEN COMES TO A CLOSE

CALGARY, Alberta (February 8, 2009) – No doubt about it, eh, the first annual Burton Canadian Open (CANO) has come to a close and Mikkel Bang (NOR) and Silvia Mittermueller (GER) have come out on top, winning the men’s and women’s slopestyle competition today at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta. After a week of mild temperatures brought on by the Chinook winds, bluebird skies once again illuminated the 600m long slopestyle course that featured street rails, a dance floor, boxes, two massive kickers and a jibbable metal mushroom cap.

The international field of riders included Calgary’s own Jed Anderson, yesterday’s CANO men’s halfpipe gold medalist; Lisa Wiik (NOR), the women’s European Open slopestyle gold medalist; the current TTR World Tour points leader, Chas Guldemond (USA); TransWorld 2009 Rookie of the Year, Raewyn Reid (CAN); three Winter X-Games medalists; and most of Canada’s best. While the standard was high in both the men’s and the women’s fields, both winners were stand outs by landing insane tricks in their clean runs.

Mikkel Bang’s $7,500 winning run featured a frontside nosepress on the flatdown, 270 to frontside boardslide on the street rail, a backside rodeo stalefish on the first kicker, and landing a ridiculously big switch backside 1260. “I feel really good,” said Bang. “This contest was really mellow compared to others that I have been in lately. But the level of snowboarding was crazier than usual. I felt like I had nothing to lose after not landing my first two runs so I went for it. I am so stoked.”

Sebastien Toutant (CAN) landed 2nd place with a run that featured his signature “Toutsie Roll” a backside doublecork 1080, for $3,500. Charles Reid (CAN) took home $1,500 for his 3rd place finish, his winning run featured a Cab 900 and a frontside 1080 double flip.

Women’s slopestyle champion Silvia Mittermueller just barely made it in to finals, placing seventh out of the eight spots that moved on from semi-finals. Sarka Pancochova (CZE) looked unstoppable in semi-finals with a sick backside rodeo 540, which she was not able to land in finals. Mittermueller seized the opportunity, putting down a run that started off with a 50/50 to frontside boardslide, followed by a frontside boardslide to fakie, into a switch backside 540, keeping speed and pulling a clean 720 tailgrab, finishing with a frontside boardslide “There were so many firsts here; this was my first time to Canada, the first ever Canadian Open and my first major win. It was insane and incredible,” said Mittermueller of her win.

Megan Ginter (USA) had an impressive showing for the ladies with a Cab 540 and backside 720, taking home 2nd place and $3,500. Mary Sallah (USA) won $1,500 and third place with a Cab 540 and her sick style on the rails.

With the Burton Canadian Open over, it’s on to the Nissan X-Trail Asian Open, taking place from February 24 – March 1, 2009 at ALTS Bandai Resort in Fukushima, Japan. The Nissan X-Trail Asian Open is the fifth stop on the 2008-2009 Burton Global Open Series. Chas Guldemond and Jamie Anderson are currently in the lead for the $100,000 Burton Global Open Series Championship title. The BGOS boasts the most lucrative cumulative prize purse in snowboarding – over $900,000 – with equal prize money to men and women

The Burton Global Open Series is also part of the Swatch Ticket To Ride World Snowboard Tour (TTR), the largest group of independent freestyle snowboard events in the world. TTR ranks riders based on their results at participating competitions and crowns a TTR World Champion at the US Open. For more information on the Swatch TTR World Tour, visit www.ttrworldtour.com.